Dear Families,
I
can’t believe another week has come and gone.
I think the days just need to go a bit slower. I want more time with your children. We had another busy week in class this
week. We met our counselor, Mr.
Francart. He came in and did a lesson on
what a counselor does and friendship.
The children took their individual pictures, but because of the rain, we
did not take our group shot on picture day.
That picture will be taken on retake day. I promise to let you know when that will
happen. They all looked adorable, so I
hope they smiled bright in their pictures.
We also had our first library time.
The children get three library books each week. The books are due by Wednesday morning. We will take them back to the library and
then they can check out new books. You
can keep a book for two weeks before it is considered overdue. Once your child has an overdue book, they can
no longer check out books.
This
week we are finishing up our healthy foods unit and next week we will move on
to how to keep our bodies healthy. In
reading, we are introducing concepts like schema, mental images and making
connections. In writing, we are
beginning to talk about narratives (stories about ourselves) and picking small
moments to write about (one roller coaster ride) verses talking about a big
moment (a trip to Disneyland). We are
going to start spelling next week.
Homework will continue to come home on Friday, but spelling lists will
come home on Monday. Tests will be given
Friday. Please look in your child’s
backpack (and I will post the letter here) on Monday for a more detailed
description. In math we have been
working on fluency (the speed at which our children can add) and explaining our
thinking while doing addition to 10. We
have also been working on a word problem every day and talking about different
strategies to explain our thinking in addition to a number sentence. So while the concepts we are teaching may be
easy for some, all the children are strengthening the foundation of skills to build
on.
We
are getting closer to being ready for volunteers to join us in the
classroom. The original sign up list
that I had on Curriculum Night does not work well anymore since I had to change
my schedule. I have 3 parents that I
know were willing to help in the garden.
I will contact them and set up gardening times. The two other times I am looking for help are
from 10:30 to 11:30 (Writing) and 1 to 2
(math).
We do not need someone every day, but if those times work in your
schedule and you would like to come to help during those times, please let me
know. On occasion, I will also want help
from 2 to 3 as I need help with projects in science or social studies. Please email me where and when you can help
out. I will collect all those emails to
make a schedule. Thank you for your
support.
Have
a great weekend!
Mrs. Berk